So, there has been a long running rumor/myth in Poland about a train full of looted gold the Nazi's put together and drove away in southern Poland during the last months of WW2, which then vanished without a trace. The last city it was 'seen' in was Breslau, (which was annexed to Poland via Stalin after WW2, and is now known as Wroclaw). Everybody thinks they hid it somewhere in Poland or the Czech Republic, and lots of crazy old treasure hunters have been looking for it for decades without success, so everybody sort of assumed it was a myth (which honestly it probably is). However, a week or so ago, two treasure hunters claimed to have found it near the town of Walbrzych, which is a little ways south of Wroclaw. They reported it to the Polish government, and said they wanted 10% of the loot. Everybody assumed it was a hoax by a bunch of the usual crazy Nazi treasure hunters.

Who knows what is actually in the fucking thing. There is more than a big chance it doesn't actually contain loot. But the whole death bed confession about a buried train filled with Nazi gold is so Hollywood its hard not to get a little excited. I always enjoyed crazy old myths (Unsolved mysteries was my favorite show ever as a kid), and seeing one actually have a chance of being confirmed is pretty fun. Just imagine if somebody ever finds the lost Dutchmans gold mine.

I've been all over that area myself during my time in Poland (Wroclaw is a pretty nice city, I'd recommend stopping by for a day or so if any of you are ever traveling through). The mountains to the south are really neat, and also filled with weird Nazi projects and tunnels. For instance, I went to Ksiaz Castle (god damn polish is a fucked up language). Its a really beautiful old castle, that was turned into a Chateau style fortress in its later years for nobility (fun fact, John Q. Adams stopped by there to see it when he was touring around Europe). Its up on top of a mountain. After the Nazi's took it over during the war, they had a bunch of Jewish prisoners dig a bunch of huge tunnels in the mountain right below it, with a connecting secret elevator shaft that lead up right into the Chateau. Seriously, shit straight out of a video game. The war swept through before they could finish, and they executed all the Jews doing the manual labor. To this day nobody has any idea what the fuck they were building all this shit for (lots of speculation, most saying munitions production). There are many other projects similar to this all across that region of mountains.

And googling that castle just now, because I couldn't remember how to spell it, I just realized the castle is only about 3 miles from the town they said they found this train 'near'. So I guess maybe it was suppose to house treasure.

« Last Edit: August 28, 2015, 05:12:29 PM by Teleku »

"My great-grandfather did not travel across four thousand miles of the Atlantic Ocean to see this nation overrun by immigrants. He did it because he killed a man back in Ireland. That's the rumor."-Stephen Colbert

The link you gave doesn't give the whole scoop on the "deathbed confession," though, the story of which makes it even MORE Hollywood.

It wasn't a confession to either of the hunters or anyone related to them or on a deathbed. It was a story told by an old German to a 17-year-old kid who used to paint buildings for him. The story was shared over beers and they talked about going to find it. 17-year-old kid didn't really think much of it and old guy died. So then 17-year-old kid just tells stories of it to his son but they're too poor to ever go investigate. Flash forward to a year ago and the father starts talking about the story on a Polish website. Treasure hunters take him seriously, pump him for the third-hand information he remembers and then "find" the train.

I used to love drawing armoured trains as a kid, they always had cross-sections in my Warlord/Battle comics and annuals. (British weekly comics about war, think Charleys War from 2000AD) and have long been fascinated about the Fall of Nazi Germany and post War 1945/46 Europe too. This story has it all, have been eagerly following.

Oh, and now the Daily Mail are saying the Amber Room might be onboard. That would be interesting. But yeah. Daily Mail. So take this with a pinch of salt big enough to satisfy McDonalds for a day.

The link you gave doesn't give the whole scoop on the "deathbed confession," though, the story of which makes it even MORE Hollywood.

It wasn't a confession to either of the hunters or anyone related to them or on a deathbed. It was a story told by an old German to a 17-year-old kid who used to paint buildings for him. The story was shared over beers and they talked about going to find it. 17-year-old kid didn't really think much of it and old guy died. So then 17-year-old kid just tells stories of it to his son but they're too poor to ever go investigate. Flash forward to a year ago and the father starts talking about the story on a Polish website. Treasure hunters take him seriously, pump him for the third-hand information he remembers and then "find" the train.

That sounds suspiciously similar to a half dozen stories I've heard referring to things like buried treasure and lost mines and so on.

"Old [Person A] was quite the local character, loved his wine and his women. Nobody knew how he could afford the lifestyle, since he was always too far gone to hold down a job. But eventually, the life caught up with him, and he fell deathly ill. Staying by his side to the very end was his only friend / mistress / son / war buddy / whoever, [Person B]. And with his dying breath, [Person A] told [Person B] a great secret, the hidden location of the treasure trove from where he got his wealth, and the promise that there was still much more. But [Person B] dismissed it as the ravings of a dying lunatic, and was too poor to organize an expedition on their own. Eventually, their financial situation got bad enough that they had no choice but to sell directions / the map to other fortune hunters..."

So person A can't corroborate person B's story, since person A is dead. And person B can't corroborate person A's story, since they never checked themselves. So if the information turns out to be complete horseshit, you can't PROVE that person B pulled the entire story straight out of their ass.

It’s pretty slim odds they’ll find such a thing in the train. But, considering that the newly elected president of Poland comes from the ‘fuck Russia’ party, I wouldn’t be surprised if Poland announced “Unfortunately, the train was empty. But in other news, we just installed this amazing new Amber room in the presidential palace! It’s going to be the new smoking room.”

No matter what actually happens with all this, at least we should get some good Poland ball comics out of it.

"My great-grandfather did not travel across four thousand miles of the Atlantic Ocean to see this nation overrun by immigrants. He did it because he killed a man back in Ireland. That's the rumor."-Stephen Colbert

So THIS is where the zombie apocalypse begins... from a hidden Nazi train filled with Chemical Weapons intended as a doom's day response... Hitler killed himself to avoid becoming a zombie. Makes perfect sense. See you in Woodbury.

Der Spiegel Translation (by calapine): "According to our verdict there might be a tunnel in the area, but no train.

For their analysis the scientists used magnetic-field-detectors to search the area in question, a railway track near the town of Waldenburg. According to the report the area was searched by two independent teams."